A Tale

                                                                                 Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Nepal (1914 - 1982)
Summary in English

 'A Tale' by B. P. Koirala is an ancient story. It talks about the relationship between god and man in the very past. The sage wants to break social norms and values in the one hand; he wants to achieve godhood and happiness in another hand. Therefore, he selects jungle to live leaving the human society. Among men, he feels the path to godhood is blocked by social obligation and by the love of family and friends. So, to win supreme knowledge and godhood, he goes to dwell alone in the remote jungle.

As the sage arrives in the remote jungle, he feels thirsty. Then, he goes to near stream and drinks the water. He gets involved into tough and deep penance. The interesting thing is that time passes, seasons change, the leaves of the tree become new, birds make nests on his beard, grasses under him get destroyed and again become taller than him, however, the sage never stops his penance.

Because of his dedicate and struggleful penance, he gets victory over his body. It makes Indra to break the penance. For that, Indra sends the most beautiful nymph (a beautiful girl) from the heaven.

As the nymph arrives in front of the sage from the heaven, she starts dancing in half-naked condition. When the sage looks at nymph and her dancing, he opens his eyes and deeply falls in love with her. He becomes such emotional that he could not control his sexual desire with her. It makes him forgetting to achieve godhood or doing penance, rather than decides to get marriage with her.

When the sage and nymph both fall in love, then, they get marriage. They decide to leave remote jungle and go to live in the human society. Looking at such, king becomes happy and appreciates the sage. As they settle in the village, they have got children (two sons) and become family. They start helping their neighbors. In fact, they live with happiness and peace in the society. From all these, the sage comes to realize and experience the greater ecstasy (happiness and pleasure) than his penance from the remote jungle.